Nate Covington

I build websites that build businesses.

Every month, my work is seen and used by hundreds of thousands of people. I am available for hire with building new web sites, and managing existing sites, help with updates, consulting, new features, training, etc…

I work with directly with business owners to build streamlined, effective web sites. I also work with advertising agencies and marketing consultants on their clients' sites.

The large majority of my projects are built using Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla, although I also support Magento, OSCommerce, and almost any other open-source platform. If you are interested in hiring me to build your next web site, please use the quote request form.

Experience

Covington Creations, LLC (CEO)Builds and maintain web sites for small and medium businesses, mainly in the PA/NJ/MD area. Main focus is customizing open-source content management systems, frequently working with graphic designers, photographers, copy writers, and project managers to produce and implement cutting-edge web applications. Over 15 years of programming experience.

Mangos, Inc. (Internship in Account Management)As an intern with Mangos, an award-winning full-service ad agency, I assisted account managers with competitive research, worked alongside creative directors, as well as various designers, writers, and managers. Worked within all three major departments – account management, creative, and production.

Education

Graduated from the Marketing Program at Shippensburg University with a BSBA. During his final semester, was hired by the College of Business to redesign the school’s web site. Coursework included a concentration in sociology, psychology, and art.

I was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, and have since been researching Lyme disease identification, treatment, diet, managing stress, and even treating canine Lyme disease with vitamins and supplements - humans, too!

I recently had to come up with a way to track a client's Drupal site, using the Webform module, from within Google Analytics. Since the Webform module generates the "submit" button automatically, there is no easy way to include the "onClick" tracking code provided by Google into the form:

Editor's Note:I'm posting this article because it goes into a fair amount of detail about how a web site's hosting account and how its various parts are configured play an important role in handling large spikes in traffic. Most of my clients never encounter this type of a problem. It's always good to be ready. If you're not sure if your hosting account is set up to handle large bursts in traffic, let me know, and I'll put together some recommendations. For most folks, enabling caching is going to be sufficient. Others might appreciate the extra protection provided by a service like CloudFlare.

Millions relied on Space City Weather—here’s the configuration that weathered Hurricane Harvey.

HOUSTON—I had enough to worry about as Hurricane Harvey plowed into the Texas Gulf Coast on the night of August 25 and delivered a category 4 punch to the nearby city of Rockport. But I simultaneously faced a different kind of storm: an unexpected surge of traffic hitting the Space City Weather Web server. This was the first of what would turn into several very long and restless nights.

I recently switched a client's site from HTTP to HTTPS (SSL encryption) and needed to come up with a solution to their "social sharing counts" resetting to zero. This is not a flaw or bug, it's working as it was intended.

Here is how it works. When you share a page via social media, it uses its URL:http://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing

When you switch to SSL / HTTPS, your URL changes, similar to if your domain name changes altogether:https://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing

With the new URL, you lose all of your social sharing counts, a source of major pride (and potential profits).

My wife and I have been avid iPhone users for a decade. We recently switched over to Android and I wanted to write up this post to share my thoughts and findings.

First, Why?

We recently learned about these new Huawei phones and did some research on our own. We wound up purchasing matching Huawei Honor 8's. First, the specs are great. They stand up spec-per-dollar wise when compared to iPhone 6s, which was going to be the iPhone that we went with if we stayed in Apple's ecosystem. The iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack and that was a deal breaker for us. The Honor 8's have a 'full' 1080-resolution screen squeezed into 5.2 inches. This basically means that the screen is a little larger than our old phones, but the clarity is amazing. Huawei has openly stated that they intend to compete with Apple and Samsung, head on. I personally believe they will be successful.

After going through a rebrand, the organization needed a website refresh that reflected our new direction. Although the site was built by someone else, Nate was able to create a custom landing page that addressed the intricate structure of the organization. Throughout the process, Nate went above and beyond to address our concerns and questions and provided us with training so that we could continue to manage the website on a day to day basis. I also appreciate how accessible Nate was and his quick turnaround on edits.

The Joomla 3.7 release added new features AND 8 (eight) low-level security patches.

What they should have done, was to release 3.6.6 with all of the security patches as a ‘security’ release. Then, after the dust settles, release v3.7.0 with the new functionality. They combined both “security” and “new functionality” into the 3.7 release. To me, it seems they should have pushed the security patches into 3.6.6 and then the new features into 3.7, rather than a combination.

The result is a scramble in the Joomla community where everyone rushes to install version 3.7 because it contains security patches. Then, another scramble to install 3.7.1 because 3.7.0 had a new security issue. It seems like a racket, no?

Google often provides useful information to the SEO community, but columnist Nate Dame argues that ultimately, the company's advice is in their best interest, not yours -- so make sure you understand the nuances.

Last month, Google released a video detailing best practices for hiring an SEO company, and it is positioned to become the go-to guide for hiring an SEO. After all, who better to tell companies what they should look for in an SEO than the operators of the world’s most popular search engine?